Shifting Nights
by RaucousRaven
Summary: John Egbert leads a very mundane life, until one day while walking home from school, he finds someone who'll change his entire life. Shapeshifting AU. John Egbert X Karkat Vantas Ratings will change later.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, so this is my first multi-chapter fic. I haven't seen any Shapeshifting AU Johnkat out there (that I know of) and I got this idea. I'll be updating regularly. Thanks for reading! :D **

**Characters belong to Andrew Hussie**

Your name is John Egbert, and you're currently sitting in math class.

It's the end of the semester, the warm sunlight filtering through the classroom windows and the air conditioning unit droning in the background announced the arrival of summer in less than a month.

The class' teacher lectures on about the importance of the use of parentheses in your life or something, most of the students either staring at the most interesting ceiling tiles or doodling various images in the margin of their sheets.

Your best bro, Dave Strider, looks asleep, his closed ruby irises hidden by his shades, which are slightly askew and his face is propped up in one hand. You think he might even be drooling a little.

You look over to another one of your best friends, Jade Harley, who seems to either be vaguely interested in the lecture.

Beside her, another one of your best friends sit, Rose Lalonde. Her on the other hand, is scribbling down every single word that comes out of the teacher's mouth like her life depended on it. Not that she doesn't already know it all.

You sigh, scrubbing your eyes under your thick frames with the heel of your hand and glance at the clock. Ten more minutes.

Your name is John Egbert, and you lead a very mundane life.

-

The cheerful tune of the bell signals the end of another day. The students gather their belongings then shuffle out of the classroom, eager to get home.

You collect your stuff and stand up, stretching and listening to the pop of your back, the result of sitting in the same position for too long.

You look over to see Dave still asleep, and consider pranking him. Unfortunately, you don't have a permanent marker with you, so you're unable to draw a charming mustache on your friends face. Oh well, you'd make up for it later.

You nudge him awake with your foot, and he shoots up with alarm.

"What year is it?" He asks fixing his shades while collecting his homework.

"You weren't asleep that long, Dave. Oh, and you were drooling."  
"What? I don't drool in my sleep."

The two of you walk out of the classroom and into the hall, where most of the kids have already gone home, and head over to your lockers.

"So, you workin' tonight, or can you come chill?"

You smile apologetically. "Sorry, I need to help my dad tonight, but we can chill tomorrow."

He nods. "Sounds cool, Egbert. See you around."

And with that, he slings his bag on his shoulder and heads out of the building.

You sigh. As much as you love your dad, it can be a pain having to help him out almost everyday after school. Your family owns the local bakery, the only bakery in such a small town. Being such, your dad get's alot of business, and needs you to go over and help him often. You don't mind really, but you'd like to spend more time with your friends.

You close your locker door, and it echoes in the now near-empty building.

When you walk out of the school, a nice summer breeze blows at your hair, smelling like freshly cut grass. You inhale deeply, taking in the fresh air and the warm rays of sun, and take the familiar wooded path home.

You live on the far side of small town you live in, so the walk home can get pretty long. You should hurry if you want to get to the bakery in time before your dad gets too many customers.

The road that leads to your house passes through the forest, and the shade created by the large oak trees is a welcome relief from the hot summer sun. There are less and less cars passing you, then all you can hear are the leaves dancing in the wind and the birds calling to each other.

Everything's peaceful for a while, then you hear a faint sound. It's an animalistic sound, but there's no confusing a pained whine.

You whip your head around, searching for the source of the noise.

"Hello?" You ask to the empty forest, straining your ears.

After a good minute, you decide you're just a little bit more tired than you thought. You keep walking on the dirt path with your hands in the pockets of your cargo pants.

The sound is nearly forgotten, until you hear it again, this time louder, closer. You jump a little, startled, and spin around, scanning your surroundings.  
You're about to give up again, until this time, you spot something on the forest ground. Is that... Blood?

A smear of blood, where something was dragged, disappears behind a group of shrubs.

Slowly, you creep towards the bush ready to take off at a sprint in the case of danger.

You peer over the bush, and gasp.

In front of you, a large body is stretched out on the undergrowth. It was a cat. An enormous cat. Larger than any of the tigers you've seen as a kid when your dad brought you to the zoo in the city.

It's covered in glossy jet-black fur, its underbelly a charcoal grey. Its eyes are closed and its mouth is open, revealing large canine teeth.

Then, for the second time in less than a minute, you gasp again.

On the feline's shoulder, there's a large bullet wound slowly oozing bright-red blood, which slowly pours onto the forest floor, seeping into the earth.

You would have thought the creature was dead, but the slow, unsteady rise and fall of its sides.

You stand there, gawking, then realise that if you leave it here much longer, it'll probably die. You take a deep breath, and fish out your phone. Now, who can you call. Dave would think it's a prank, so you won't call him. Rose is really crazy smart, so she'd know what to do, but Jade knows all about animals, and her grandfather's the local veterinarian. You decide to call Jade.

You glance up at the cat, then back to the phone. You do a double take, and find yourself staring straight into the animal's eye. A brilliantly red orb with a black slit through the middle bores into you.

You freeze, but don't dare break eye contact. You can see so much raw emotion. Anger, pain, hatred and fear. Never before have you seen so much anger in one being. It must be weakening, because the red iris slips shut once more, releasing you from its glare, and its breathing becomes shallow and wheezing.

What were you doing? Oh right, calling Jade. You briefly wonder if anyone else would do this. Wouldn't they just run? You don't have time to ponder these thoughts though, because you hear a familiar voice.

"Hello?"

You sigh in relief. "Jade, hi. I need your help. You see I was walking home from school, and once I got to the forest I heard..."

You trail off at the end because you glanced back towards the feline, only to find out it's gone.

Nowhere in sight.

Now, where the creature lay, in its place, is a very much human, and a very much dying, unconscious boy.


	2. Chapter 2

Shifting Nights chapters can be read at raucousraven . deviantart gallery/#/ d53e72p (remove spaces) since I won't really be posting any more here


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